Civic body one step closer to acquiring Gymkhana land

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is one step closer to acquiring a portion of the Bombay Gymkhana land from the Mumbai collector, in order to widen the populous Hazarimal Somani Road. The collector’s office recently wrote to the BMC, asking it to pay '1.82 lakh as charges for the land survey recently carried out by the collectorate. This has come in reply to additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh’s letter in October, asking the collector to fast-forward the transfer of land currently within the gymkhana’s premises.

The BMC wants to take up the project of widening the Hazarimal Somani Road on a priority basis, and has agreed to pay the money as soon as it is possible to process it from the civic body’s treasury.

Municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta said, “It is only a procedural aspect of the land transfer and we are going to pay up as soon as possible. We really want to complete the road-widening project on a priority basis, as it is going to benefit pedestrians. We have ignored pedestrian convenience for far too long.”

After Mr Mehta conducted a spot visit of the site on October 25, he had asked BMC officials to expedite the process of widening Hazarimal Somani Road. The BMC has plans of widening this road from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) subway (near Cannon pav bhaji stall) up to the MG Road junction on Fashion Street.

The civic body intends to construct a 30-foot pedestrian footpath, along with a heritage canopy.